7 Dad’s Secret

CHAPTER 7 Dad's Secret But Dad didn't tell us right away. First we fed our fish while Dad made us a snack. "Look how swimmy my fish is," Penny said. "I think she's growing up and getting more energy. Like how Marco used to sleep more when he was a little baby, but now he's more awake." "Marco is sleeping now," I pointed out. "Yeah, but not as much as he used to. Just like Penny Jr."

第七章 爸爸的秘密 可爸爸没有马上告诉我们。 我们先喂了鱼，爸爸在旁边给我们做小点心。 “你看我的小鱼游得多欢呀。”佩妮说。 “我觉得她长大了，力气也变多啦。 就像马可小时候总爱睡觉，现在醒着的时间可长多啦。” “马可现在就在睡觉呀。”我指出。 “是呀，但可比以前睡得少多啦。 就跟小佩妮一样。

I nodded. I was afraid to talk because what if I accidentally told Penny the truth about Penny Jr. Jr. Having a secret is hard work. You have to be very careful about what you say and what you don't say. Dad gave us apple slices. "That's it?" Penny asked. "That's not fair! Mom always lets us have something sweet along with something healthy." "The sweet snack will come later, along with a surprise," Dad told her. "I don't like surprises," I told him. "I like knowing things." "You'll know soon enough," Dad told me. "After you eat something healthy, and do your homework. You both have homework, right?" "Yup," said Penny. "We're doing our letters right now. I'm supposed to write out the whole alphabet—uppercase and lowercase.

我点了点头。 我不敢说话，就怕一不小心把小小佩妮的真相说给佩妮听。 藏秘密可太辛苦了。 你得万分小心，什么话能说，什么话不能说，都得拿捏好。 爸爸给我们拿了苹果片。 “就只有这个？” 佩妮问。 “这不公平！ 妈妈总是会让我们吃点甜的，搭配健康的东西一起吃的。” “甜点心晚点就有，还有个惊喜哦。”爸爸告诉她。 “我不喜欢惊喜。”我对他说。 我就喜欢什么事都明明白白的。” “你很快就知道啦。”爸爸对我说。 “等你们吃完健康的小点心，做完作业就知道了。 你们俩都有作业要做，对不对？” “对呀！”佩妮说。 “我们现在正在学字母呢。 我要把整个字母表都写一遍——大写的小写的都要写。

And then I have to practice the sounds." "And what about you, Stel?" Dad asked. "I have to read the paper, which I already did with you this morning. I have a math worksheet that I finished this afternoon in free period. So all I have to do is work on my article." "Great," Dad said. Penny and I finished our apples and stood up. "Bye, little fishies," Penny called. "I love you, Penny Jr. And I love you too, Fudge—but not as much." Then we went to our rooms to do our homework. I sat at my desk to work on my article, even though I didn't have a topic yet. Sometimes, when I'm working on my books, I just write whatever pops into my head. I decided to try that with my report:

然后我还要练习字母的发音哦。” “那你呢，斯黛尔？” 爸爸问。 “我要读报纸，今天早上我已经和你一起读过啦。 我还有一张数学练习题，下午自由活动的时候就做完了。 所以我现在只要写我的文章就行啦。” “真棒。”爸爸说。 我和佩妮吃完苹果，站了起来。 “拜拜，小鱼鱼们。”佩妮喊道。 “我爱你，小佩妮。 我也爱你，法奇——不过没那么爱哦。” 然后我们就回各自的房间做作业去了。 我坐在书桌前写文章，可我这会儿还没找到主题呢。 有时候我写自己的小书时，想到什么就写什么。 我决定这次写报告也试试这个办法：

I wish I could tell you about the mayor of our class, Mrs. Finkel. But she didn't want me to. I scrunched up the paper. She'd probably get mad about that. I'd read about the heat wave in the paper that morning. That affected my life because it was hot. So I tried that: The weather is hotter than usual in Somers this week. That affects my life because I don't have to wear a sweater. Just then I heard a knock. "Who is it?" I called. "It's Penny." "Come in," I said. Penny skipped into my room with her

我真想和你们说说我们班的大家长芬克尔夫人。 可她不会愿意我这么写的。 我把纸揉成了一团。 她看到了肯定会生气的。 我今天早上在报纸上看到了热浪的新闻。 这还影响到我的生活了呢，因为天气真的好热。 于是我试着写：这周萨默斯的天气比往常要热。 这影响了我的生活，因为我都不用穿毛衣了。 就在这时我听到了敲门声。 “是谁呀？” 我喊道。 “是佩妮。” “进来吧。”我说。 佩妮蹦蹦跳跳地进了我的房间，手里拿着她的

notebook. "Look, I finished all my letters. I think it was my neatest handwriting ever." I looked. It was neat—for a kindergartener. "I have to practice sounding out things too," Penny said. "Did you write anything in your book? Can I sound it out?" "My books are private," I told her. "How about if I read your homework then?" she asked. She leaned over my shoulder. "The www... www." "Weather," I told her. "Oh, that's a hard word," she said. "But I can read the little ones. And I can read my whole name—Penelope." "That's good," I told her. "You're writing about the weather for your homework?" "Nope." I scrunched up the paper. I still

笔记本。 “你看，我把所有字母都写完啦。 我觉得这是我写得最工整的一次字啦。” 我看了看。 对一个幼儿园小朋友来说，确实挺工整的。 “我还要练习拼读呢。”佩妮说。 “你在你的小本子里写什么了呀？ 我能拼拼看吗？” “我的小本子是私人的哦。”我告诉她。 “那我读你的作业总行吧？”她问。 她凑到了我的肩膀旁边。 “天…天…” “是天气。”我告诉她。 “哦，这个字可太难了。”她说。 “不过短的字我会读哦。 我还能读我的全名呢——佩内洛普。” “真厉害。”我对她说。 “你作业是要写关于天气的内容吗？” “不是呀。” 我把纸揉成了一团。 我还